And I want to add that some kids’ books have a lower age limit, but not an upper age limit. Adults of all ages read the Harry Potter books, for instance. It’s my hope that my books for middle graders and young adults can appeal to some adult readers, as well.
Susan Fletcher – 5 July 2025
The Back Flap
A girl torn between two worlds . . .
Turtle is scavenging a drowned town when she saves a stranger’s life. There’s something special about Kai—an attraction she’s never felt before. She would do anything to see him again.
But Turtle can never truly be with Kai, because Kai is Normal, and Turtle is one of the Mer, kids whose genes were illegally hacked before birth and who now have working gills as well as lungs. Turtle lives on an old cruise ship with the other Mer in order to be close to the water she needs to survive.
Yet she sneaks away and lies to her friends to spend more time on land with Kai. And the pull of the shore grows even stronger when Turtle reconnects with her sisters and learns that her father, who has been in prison for having her genes modified, has escaped and may be hiding out nearby.
When scientists come up with a way for the Mer to surrender their gills and live as Normals, Turtle faces a terrible choice. Turtle loves her life with her Mer friends, but she desperately misses her family. And then there’s Kai . . .
Should she give up her Mer community and their way of life, along with the joy of living freely under the sea? Or give up the guy she’s falling for . . . and any hope of reconnecting with her family?
About the book
What is the book about?
Sea Change is a young adult science fiction love story about a girl whose genes were illegally hacked before birth and who now has working gills as well as lungs. On another level, Sea Change is a retelling of “The Little Mermaid,” set at some point later in this century. My protagonist, Turtle, is part of a community of about a hundred teenagers who can breathe on land and underwater; they live on a dilapidated old cruise ship off the coast of Texas. One day, Turtle saves the life of a “normal” boy, falls in love with him and, when the opportunity arises, has to decide whether to give up her gills so she can live in his world with him.
In terms of theme, Sea Change is about the wisdom (or lack thereof) of changing yourself so that you can be in a romantic relationship. It’s about the promise and perils the future holds as human gene editing becomes a common practice. And it’s about holding on to the people you care about, despite the political and societal pressures to fragment into like-minded groups or clans.
When did you start writing the book?
The first draft on my computer is dated sometime in 2017, but the idea of writing about an underwater-living girl has been with me for decades. It didn’t all come together for me, though, until my daughter urged me to read about what’s going on right now in the field of genetics.
How long did it take you to write it?
Five years, more or less. I’m a slow writer, but that’s a long time, even for me. Sea Change is the most challenging book I’ve ever written; (it’s my 12th novel). Once I finished the manuscript, there were a few longish gaps between publishing tasks, during which I started work on my next book.
Where did you get the idea from?
The first part of the idea, as I’ve said, was of some kind of underwater world. That’s pretty vague, though—not enough to get me going. But when I started looking into genetics, and read about the gene-editing technique called CRISPR, I realized that as humans, we’re on the cusp of something entirely new—the ability to direct our own evolution. I remembered skin-diving, as a child, near some the islands off the coast of California. What if you could breathe underwater without gear? And from there, it was a short hop to the idea of retelling “The Little Mermaid” in the future.
Were there any parts of the book where you struggled?
Yes! This book was so challenging. Partly because I had to learn so much about genetics—not my field at all. Fortunately, CRISPR became a hot topic during the time I was writing, and three books for non-scientists came out within those years. Super helpful!
What came easily?
In almost every book I write there’s at least one character who is a “gift.” What I mean by that is that the “gift” character is full of life and seems to come out of nowhere. When I sit down to write scenes with this character, it feels like taking dictation. The words just come—especially dialog. Magic! In Sea Change, my “gift” character is Emerson, an adult who lives on the fringes of society and helps my teenagers with gills in a number of ways.
Are your characters entirely fictitious or have you borrowed from real world people you know?
I’ll bet that every character in my novels has traits of people I have known. But in this case, I don’t know what they are! I didn’t consciously use anybody in particular when creating the characters in Sea Change—but I’m certain that my subconscious mind put traits of real-world people into the mix.
We all know how important it is for writers to read. Are there any particular authors that have influenced how you write and, if so, how have they influenced you?
I’m a chronic underliner of passages I love. I read them over, trying to suss out the source of the magic in them. There have been so many books where I’ve done this, I can’t even begin to list them or their authors. So I will tell you about my friend Eloise Jarvis McGraw, who influenced me early on, not only with her writing—which was truly inspiring—but with how she was as a writer.
She was quite a bit older than me, even older than my parents. When I first met her, she had won two Newbury honors, plus a lot of other awards; she won the third Newbury honor, for The Moorchild, during the time when I knew her. She appreciated her awards, but didn’t make a big deal about them. It was the writing of her current book that captured her energy and her heart.
Eloise had been a devoted outliner when she began her career as a writer. But by the time I knew her, she told me, a sense of dramatic structure had pretty much permeated her bones, and she didn’t have to think consciously about that anymore. One of the great things she taught me is that, when I am stuck—not knowing which way to take a story—I should wait, rather than force an answer. The answer will come, she told me. Keep asking the question, and one day, the answer will just be there.
And she was right!
Do you have a target reader?
Because I write for kids and young adults, I have to know about how old my readers will be. I have written for preschoolers, for middle-grade kids, and for high schoolers. I enjoy writing for all ages, but lately, I’m particularly drawn to write for young adults.
And I want to add that some kids’ books have a lower age limit, but not an upper age limit. Adults of all ages read the Harry Potter books, for instance. It’s my hope that my books for middle graders and young adults can appeal to some adult readers, as well.
About Writing
Do you have a writing process? If so can you please describe it?
I don’t think I have an actual process, per se. I do write in the morning. If I can’t write in the morning, I’m grumpy all day. Usually, I do quite a bit of thinking and writing about the book idea before I actually put down “Chapter 1” and begin. Sometimes this involves outlining, other times not.
One thing I have discovered over time is that sometimes, even when I think I’m ready to begin writing a chapter, the words aren’t flowing. Maybe the pressure of writing the actual chapter feels like too much at the moment, who knows? So I have a folder for each book, called “journal.” And if I’ve finished Chapter 9, say, but I don’t seem to be ready to write Chapter 10, I just move to the journal folder, open a file for Chapter 10, and write something. I might ask myself why I’m stuck and try to answer that on the page. I might interview the main character. I might write down what the weather is like on the day of the scene. I might think about how the main character will evolve over the course of the chapter. I might ask myself what the main character is feeling at the moment in each of her five senses. These little exercises are mainly to prime the pump, get the words flowing. Usually, after a while, the words of the chapter begin to spill out and land on the journal page. I just let them go as long as they’re coming, and then paste them into the actual chapter.
Do you outline? If so, do you do so extensively or just chapter headings and a couple of sentences?
I have written twelve novels using different methods. I have made complete and detailed outlines for a few, and I have just plunged into Chapter 1 in a few others. I usually prefer something in between—outlining the first six or seven chapters, having as clear an idea of the ending as I can, and then allowing things to unfold in between.
Do you edit as you go or wait until you’ve finished?
I can’t help editing a little as I go, but, increasingly, I just want to move forward. I know from experience that I’m going to discover a lot about my characters and the world of the book as I forge ahead, and I’ll have to go back and make changes to the earlier parts. So there’s no point in polishing too much the first time through.
Do you listen to music while you write? If yes, what gets the fingers tapping?
I have experimented with creating playlists that evoke the world the of book I’m working on. Some of Loreena McKennitt’s songs felt just right for a Middle Eastern camel journey in ancient times, and I listened to Renaissance Italian music when writing a story set in—guess where?—Renaissance Italy. But lately, I’m fine without music at all.
About Publishing
Did you submit your work to Agents?
Yes, I have an agent.
What made you decide to go Indie, whether self-publishing or with an indie publisher? Was it a particular event or a gradual process?
Abrams Books, the publisher of Sea Change, though not one of the big five publishing houses in the US, is a well-established house with a great reputation. I was thrilled when they made an offer on Sea Change.
Did you get your book cover professionally done or did you do it yourself?
Abrams Books took care of that—beautifully, in my opinion!
Do you have a marketing plan for the book or are you just winging it?
I have a lot of excellent help and guidance—both from Abrams and from the promotional company Books Forward. Promotion is not my forte, and the help from both sources has been invaluable.
Any advice that you would like to give to other newbies considering becoming Indie authors?
Don’t rule out a smaller publishing house for your book. The big publishers invest a lot of resources in their blockbuster authors; it’s possible that you might get more attention with a smaller house.
About You
What would you like readers to know about you?
I’ve written 14 books for young readers, including a mystery novel, a fantasy novel series, several historical novels, and two historical picture books. Although I love to write about the long-ago and the yet-to-come, I can’t bring those worlds to life without grounding them in details from the world in which we live now. To that end, I have explored lava tubes and sea caves; spent the night in a lighthouse; traveled along the Silk Road in Iran; ridden in a glider, on a camel, and on a donkey; and cut up (already dead!) baby chicks and mice for a gyrfalcon’s dinner. To write Sea Change, I immersed myself in the geography and cultural vibe of Galveston, Texas; explored a Gulf of Mexico oil platform; and brought to mind my girlhood experiences of skin diving off Catalina Island with my family.
What are you working on now?
I’m working on a YA historical mystery novel based in California in the 1930s.
End of Interview:
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Get your copy of Sea Change from Amazon US or Amazon UK.